Supreme Weekly: Election fever - Races in Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas
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December 1, 2011
by: Katy Farrell
Today Supreme Weekly will look at four states with Supreme Court judicial elections in 2012. Recent past elections in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, and North Carolina have produced highly contested elections with several candidates. Will that trend continue in 2012? Read today's edition to find out more!
Texas
Texas will see one-third of its high court justices up for election next year. Since the state is one of two in the nation with multiple courts of last resort, this is the equivalent of six judges. Though the Williamson County Republican Party shows that all six incumbents have filed for re-election, still two have not announced their intentions. Those are David Medina and Sharon Keller.
So far, only one opponent has declared for a race on the Texas Supreme Court. Former justice Stephen Wayne Smith will challenge Don Willett for Place 2.[1] This is unusual less than two weeks before the primary election filing deadline, especially in Texas, where judicial elections for higher court races are usually heavily contested.
On the Court of Criminal Appeals, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller is the only incumbent that has thus far drawn an opponent. Colleague Lawrence Meyers plans to challenge the incumbent for her seat. Keller has not officially filed for re-election, though she has expressed her intention to do so. She has served in that position since 2000 and has been the subject of controversy during her tenure. To read more about her notable rulings, visit Keller's profile page.[2]
Below are the websites for incumbents who have declared for 2012:
Supreme Court
Court of Criminal Appeals
To learn more about next year's elections, visit: Texas judicial elections, 2012.
Ohio
The Ohio Supreme Court has three incumbents with expiring terms in 2012 and 2013. Justices Terrence O'Donnell and Robert Cupp was face their second and third re-election campaigns, while Justice Yvette McGee Brown will experience her first.
Robert Cupp has drawn an opponent in the race. Former Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals Judge William O'Neill will run for the court for the third time. His last attempt was in 2006, when he competed against Justice O'Donnell.[3] (He also challenged O'Donnell in 2004.)[4] O'Neill is running to highlight what sees sees as a "broken" system of judicial selection in the state.[5] As he said in his campaign announcement:
This is about a fundamental difference of opinion between those of us who are tired of selling judicial seats to the highest bidder and those who seek to protect the old ways of electing justices in Ohio. Ohio’s judicial-selection process is broken, and Robert Cupp is part of the problem.[4]
Republican judges Sharon L. Kennedy and Judith French spent spring and summer of this year traversing the state, drumming up support for their party's nomination for Justice Brown's seat. With the primary filing deadline now less than one week away, we don't have much longer to wait to see if they both actually intend to compete. One thing is certain: Kennedy is already accepting endorsements, and has been supported by the Clermont County Republican Party. [6]
To learn more about next year's elections, visit: Ohio judicial elections, 2012.
Michigan
The state of Michigan is an anomaly when it comes to Supreme Court elections. It is the only state in the county where interested individuals become candidates only after the party nominating convention. Since this convention is held in the late summer months and incumbent candidates do not file until July, it is difficult to presume what the field will look like at this point.
Three seats will be up for election on the high court next year. The most recently appointed justice, Brian Zahra, will compete in his first election on the court. Stephen Markman and Marilyn Kelly both have terms expiring and have served on the court since the 1990s.
To learn more about next year's elections, visit: Michigan judicial elections, 2012.
North Carolina
Only one justice is up for election to the North Carolina Supreme Court next year. Justice Paul Martin Newby has a term that is expiring and has not yet drawn any opponents for re-election. To learn more about him, however, you can visit his campaign website.
To learn more about next year's elections, visit: North Carolina judicial elections, 2012.
That sums up Supreme Weekly's advance coverage of next year's state Supreme Court elections. To find out when the filing deadline or election in your state is, visit the 2012 judicial election dates page. To learn more about judicial elections in general, click on a state in the template below.
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See also
- Supreme Weekly: Election fever - Races in Mississippi, Montana, Washington and West Virginia
- Judgepedia's Supreme Weekly: The States
Footnotes
- ↑ Smith for Supreme Court website
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "An Interview With Judge Sharon Keller," October 26, 2010
- ↑ Terrence O'Donnell#2006 Election
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Columbus Dispatch, "O'Neill running for Supreme Court again," November 23, 2011
- ↑ WKYC.com, "Former Judge Bill O'Neill running for Supreme Court," November 22, 2011
- ↑ Clermont County Republican Party, 2012 Primary Endorsements
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